My name is Donna Cushing and I am currently serving as a community and county Councillor with Caerphilly County Borough Council for the Hengoed and Cefn Hengoed ward.

Full statement

My father was a coal miner and my mother ran her own business.

My working life consisted of primarily working for voluntary and a disability organisation.

Along with my full time job I was instrumental in setting up a project on a Friday evening for young people in our community to alleviate antisocial behaviour that was prevalent in our community.

Politics has always played an important part in our family and my background to politics has a long history, as my mother was cousin to Aneurin Bevan. I am very proud of my welsh heritage.

I want to run for Police and Crime Commissioner to enhance the reputation of Gwent Police and act as a conduit between the Police and the public.

My first action if elected would be to visit all departments and get the views of the front line staff. I’d like to view their training regime and see if I can offer any insight into additional training.

We all know what post pandemic has been like and there is a lot of mental health issues out in the community and as Police are, more often than not, first on scene and I feel they could do with a little more training in this area.

I want to be the Commissioner that calls out any injustice and to be open and honest to the electorate and to the police itself.

I confirm that I Teresa Elizabeth Parry of 1 Kingswood Close, Hengoed, Caerffili CF82 7LU am the acting Agent for Donna Cushing and have uploaded her statement in accordance with the requirements of this Election..